


Fallen into Grace

by ridkey



Category: Thomas Sanders, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Fantasy AU, Gen, Heroic Rescue, I have never posted in this fandom before and I am all kinds of nervous, M/M, Near Death, Wings, actual prince Roman, falling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 01:53:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13893744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ridkey/pseuds/ridkey
Summary: Inspired by some amazing art by randomslasher on Tumblr.It's the end of the line for the hero, Prince Roman. With his allies gone, he stands alone against the evil king he swore to defeat. Now it seems he will be the one defeated. Maybe fate has judged him unworthy... Or maybe, rescue will come from the most unlikely of places...





	Fallen into Grace

At the top of the highest spire, Prince Roman stood alone.

The vipermen hissed and circled, the lone golden eye in their heads staring at the hero. In the center, smiling, stood the King of Lies, ruler of the cruel legions Roman and his allies sought to defeat. Deceit looked the prince in the eyes and his smile only grew. Roman took a shuddering breath, clutching his injured arm. His magic sword was gone. Logan the Scholar was trapped by magic. Father Patton locked in the dungeon. And they were the only three that could save their world.

Their quest was over. They had failed.

And there was a long way down to his end.

“So here ends the tale of the brave prince,” Deceit purred. “Your heroics were the stuff of story and song, and your tragic end just as much.” His lips curled into an ironic smirk. “I will ensure your folly is remembered.”

“Lies.” Roman shivered as the wind wrapped around them. “You will erase me from history as you did my father!”

“You don’t know that,” the King said, magical eye glittering with power. “What a shame, isn’t it? That you will die without ever knowing your legacy. Make no mistake, prince: You mattered. Your actions have changed the course of history.” He laughed. “Maybe I’ll even put up a statue in your honor.”

“Enough!” Roman dropped to his knees. He could’ve cried, but there were no tears left in him. All there was now was despair. 

“I know I have lost,” he said. “I am not the hero of prophecy. I have led my friends to their ends, and given all that I met false hope in our salvation.” He forced his words to become like steel and stone, and his eyes to show his hate for the other. “But this is not the end for my kingdom. There will be four more who will rise to defeat you. They will be the heroes foretold. They will-”

“Roman.” Deceit’s yellow eye faded to white, until both eyes looked as human as the rest of him. “Didn’t you ever wonder where that prophecy came from?”

His stomach dropped. Deceit’s eyes only did that when he told the truth. “What?” He whispered.

“It gets boring being so powerful, Roman.” Deceit folded his hands together. “Living for centuries, conquering kingdoms and defeating kings. I bring grief and sorrow, but grief and sorrow are boring. Grief and sorrow become acceptance and submission, and what am I supposed to do with that? I’m not so sadistic as to beat down an already beaten population.”

It felt as if Roman’s heart could stop. He wanted to cover his ears, block out the words, but his hands felt as numb as the rest of him. 

“ _ I _ made the prophecy, Prince Roman,” Deceit said. “I created it with my own hands, to give fools like you hope. And when that hope leads to action, I crush it. I crush it and bring on a new era of darkness like none have ever seen.”

The king began to laugh, and the sound was carried on by the winds that stalked the castle.

“You did everything I wanted you to!” Deceit shouted.

“Liar!” Roman stood. “Lies, lies, lies! You liar!”

He charged, weaponless, at the king. The vipermen hissed. Deceit, still laughing, snapped his fingers. Scaled claws wrapped around Roman’s arms and pulled him back. Roman screamed and fought, legs lifted off the ground as he was taken to the edge of the balcony. 

“Believe what you want, Roman.” Deceit’s eye turned back to yellow. “Your beliefs don’t matter anymore.”

The wind snapped at his body. It hit Roman all at once. Every memory flashed through his mind as he stared in horror at the king.

Deceit raised a hand.

“Farewell, Prince Roman.”

The vipermen’s muscles flexed, then swung. He felt his body soar over the balcony railing.

He dropped.

It was only a moment of falling, but it felt like years. Even the pain of the winds crashing against his body could not numb the pain in his soul. There were no thoughts in his head, just an overpowering despair.

It wasn’t supposed to end this way.

Arms caught him, warm and strong. Roman gasped, mind spinning. He’d stopped falling but was still moving. Something flapped and the arms tightened around him. At some point his arm had wrapped around the person’s neck. A person. 

“I’ve got you,” a familiar voice whispered.

He turned.

“Anxiety!” He shouted.

The dark side smiled at Roman. Roman looked into his eyes. 

“You… rescued me,” he whispered.

“You did it first,” the former member of Deceit’s army said.

Roman looked past his face and his breath caught in his throat. On Anxiety’s back were two wings, beautiful iridescent black. They shone rainbow in the shrouded light from the sun above them.

“Like them?” Anxiety said.

It took a moment for Roman to speak. “Fight or flight,” he whispered in awe.

Anxiety smiled. 

They soared over the castle, out of sight of the evil king’s view, towards the mountains and corrupted forests that announced his presence. Anxiety knew his path, and flew it true. 

“Why did you save me?” Roman asked, relaxing against Anxiety’s body.

“Anybody would’ve done it if they could’ve,” Anxiety said.

“Not a member of Deceit’s army,” Roman said.

That made Anxiety stop for a moment. He shifted his grasp on the prince, his protective hold never failing. “I want to join you,” he said. “I want to help you defeat Deceit.”

The memory of Deceit’s words flashed through Roman’s mind again. “Anxiety - the prophecy-”

“Is fake, I know.” When Roman blinked at him in surprise, Anxiety shrugged. “I was one of his officers, he told me everything. And what I know is gonna help you.”

“But if he made the prophecy, then-”

“It doesn’t matter if he made the prophecy. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Or even that it matters.” Anxiety’s wings flapped as he adjusted his flight path. “He can still be defeated. I believe in you, Roman.” Roman blinked again. That was the first time he’d ever heard Anxiety call him by name. “I think you can stop this,” Anxiety’s voice was soft. “I think you can save everyone. And I can’t take back what I’ve done when I worked for Deceit but maybe I can make up for it.”

“Anxiety.” Roman reached with his free hand to cup Anxiety’s face. “You don’t need to make up for anything.”

For a moment, Anxiety flew in silence, eyes locked with Roman’s. It was a much different kind of eye contact than anything Roman had gone through with the other before. Anxiety swallowed and whispered something.

“Anxiety?”

“My name is Virgil, actually,” Anxiety said a bit louder. “Anxiety’s just a title.”

“Virgil.” Roman repeated. He smiled. “Virgil Sanders. I’d say that has a nice ring to it.”

Virgil jolted, eyes going wide. Roman leaned forward and planted a princely kiss on the other’s cheek.

“Welcome to the journey, Virgil.”


End file.
